Summary of irrigation activities in Utah, 1923

PHOTOGRAPHIC SUMMARY TO ACCOMPANY ANNUAL REPORT OF CO-OPERATIVE IRRIGATION ACTIVITIES IN THE STATE OF UTAH DURING THE YEAR 1923. By L.M. WINSOR, Irrigation Engineer.
This summary is intended as an aid in reading the above report, since a photographic record is much more readily understood than a word picture. The photographs follow in order the topics discussed in the report.
CONSOLIDATION OF INDEPENDENT IRRIGATION ENTERPRISES INTO MUTUAL ORGANIZATIONS. Several attempts have been made to secure photographs showing the typical Utah communities, but up to the present time none which are satisfactory have been obtained. Several maps have been made, however, which illustrate the close relations hip of the various independent irrigation units as they have been developed. Typical of these is the map covering the Ashley Valley, which is included herewith.
(3) DANIELS RESERVOIR AT HEAD WATERS OF STRAWBERRY RIVER
1A. Shows reservoir as it appeared in Spring of 1922.
1B. Shows same in process of reconstruction, Sept. 1923.
(4) DANIELS RESERVOIR AT HEAD WATERS OF STRAWBERRY RIVER. (continued)
1C. Shows leak and condition of dam in June 1922.
1D. Shows upper face of dam in process of reconstruction in September 1923. Note removal of timbers and widening of upper [?]. Space between was filled with clay and sand puddled in place.
(5) CONTROL OF DRIFTING GRAVEL IN SWOLLEN STREAMS AND CONSTRUCTION OF DIVERISON WORKS. This project has developed into one of the most important lines of work in Utah, in connection with improved irrigation practice. The photographs included herewith give an idea of the type of work undertaken, but do not include the entire scope of the field. For example, the application of timber dams to road construction, is not here illustrated except to show one place where this type of structure may have been used in place of concrete cut-off wall which probably will be undermined and washed out in the course of one or two years. The photographs show but poorly the manner in which gravel is stored above the line of still water during flood period. For example, the slope which the gravel bed takes where it is allowed to spread is not shown. The typical plans included in this structure are original. However the principle is the same as was found in practice at Manti where floods were a source of immense damage to both the town and the farms before the water users installed a low diversion dam at the mouth of the canyon. This dam happened to be just what was needed in checking the flow of drifting gravel and boulders. Therefore as it filled above, it has been raised at the intervals of three to five years until now this dam has reached a height of thirty feet. Details of construction are shown in photographs 2A and 2B. Since this structure was raised a little at a time as it filled, a pond of water has never been maintained on the upper side. This is the one vital (6) principal on which the present structures here illustrated have been built. It has been the aim to maintain a body of still water above each overflow dam in order that all drifting course material might be dropped above the dam. The Manti structure has served to check the drift of boulders and course gravel but much of the fine gravel and practically all of the sand has drifted over the spill-way and has been carried into the canals below. Another feature of this new type of timber overflow dam is its applicability to use, in constructing diversion works where the stream is subject to summer floods which carry large volumes of rocks, boulders and gravel. Concrete is a poor material for such conditions, especially where the structure must be placed on a loose foundation, which may be subjected to heavy erosion. In addition the wearing effect of the drifting heavy material is much more severe on concrete than on timber.
(7) MANTI FLOOD CONTROL WORKS AND DIVERISON DAM.
2A. Shows downstream face of dam and spill-way. This dam is built of timber and cobble rock. The spillway has a face of boulders grouted together with cement mortar.
2B. Shows same looking from North to South along top of dam. Note the absence of any puddling [sic].
(8) 3A. NEPHI GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS
3A AND 3B show the spill-way and dam of the upper debris barrier in Salt Creek. Note the detail of construction in 3A. And how the spill-way sits with reference to the bank in 3B. Also note the method of protection on the upper face of earth embankment. This is simply a net wire fence backed up by cedar boughs which are weighted down with boulders.
(9) NEPHI GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS. (CONTINUED)
3C. Shows the lower dam and spill-way of the Salt Creek gravel control works at high water time.
3D. Same after high water was over. Note the height above the water level to which sand bar has formed up-stream.
(10) NEPHI GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS (CONTINUED)
3E. The vertex of the gravel cone about one thousand feet above the upper control works. Note how the stream spreads as soon as released from the narrow channel above.
3F. The same in panorama immediately below 3E. extending to the vicinity of the still water basin.
(11) NEPHI GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS (continued)
3G. Shows the stream bed immediately above the dam site, taken in August before construction began in November 1922.
3.H. The same as 3G. taken at the close of the first six months after the new works had been in operation during one entire high water period. Note the depth of water immediately below the gravel delta at the very edge of the still water pond.
[Image of a map] NEPHI GRAVEL & FLOOD CONTROLBASIN. U.S.DEPT. AGRICULTURE. IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS. GRAVEL RESTRAINT BASIN. JENKINS FLAT ON SALT CREEK. NEPHI UTAH 1922. Survey, Design, Constr. By H.W. Sheley. Direction Prof. L.M. Winsor. Scale 200’=1 inch. Contour Interval=1.
(12) KANOSH GRAVEL AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
4A. Shows the dam and pond forming the debris barrier at Kanoh. Note the spillway about the middle of the dyke. The pond of still water extends up stream about 500 feet. The tree on right is a cedar or juniper. The cedar posts used are of this variety of tree.
(13) KANOSH GRAVEL AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
4B. Shows detail of spillway. Wing walls are made of cotton, wood, and cedar posts. Overpour [sic] is made of balsam logs covered with cedar posts and filled in with creek bottom boulders. Space between boulders are puddled with sand, silt and clay. An objection to this particular design is in the fact this orib [sic] is made independent of the earth fill.
(14) FILLMORE GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS.
5A. Shows Chalk Creek at the latter part of the high water season of 1923. During periods of summer flood this stream has five or ten times the volume carried at ordinary water time.
5B. Shows height to which creek bed and banks have been built above adjacent property.
(15) FILMORE GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS (CONTINUED)
5C. Shows the new timber spillway in the earth dam which was just completed the day before snow fell. The view is diagonal across the channel in a downstream direction.
5D. Same looking up-stream.
(16) BEAVER FLOOD CONTROL DIVERSION AND MEASURING WORKS.
6A. Shows the south wing of the doublt [sic] control works at the forks of North Creek. This structure has been rebuilt in part since the photograph was taken. Up to the stage shown the water users constructed the works without engineering help, using their own initiative in attempting to follow a very crude model built in miniature to show them how such a structure might be built. It was planned to give this community assistance on the ground, but a combination of circumstances prevented this when they were ready to start work, therefore they proceeded with the work expecting to receive the promised assistance before they had gone very far. Cold weather stopped the work where it stood at the time this photograph was taken.
(17) KANARRA PSOPOSED EQUALIZING RESERVOIR AND GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS.
7A. Shows site of the proposed equalizing reservoir and g ravel control over-pour dam, construction on which has not yet begun. The dam is to be built of cedar posts and rock with no attempt at making it completely water tight. The site of this dam is suitable for concrete arch since bed rock is available within a distance of twenty-five feet. However, the size of the basin above and the amount of debris carried in summer floods make such a structure of questionable economy. The timber over-pour dam can be built at a fraction of the cost of concrete. The site is ideal for such a structure, therefore it has been recommended and has been adopted by the water users. Timber is now being gathered for constructing the first ten feet. The reservoir thus formed will serve as a check for the immense quantity of drifting gravel and boulders which this stream carries, and will at the same time provide an equalizing basin for distributing the fluctuation stream of Spring high water, which if used, will double the productive capacity of Kanarra Creek. This reservoir will also provide a means for storing the low water supply at night so as to eliminate the necessity of night irrigation.
(18) ENTERPRISE DIVERSION DAM AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
Here has been undertaken a type of construction work which is out of the ordinary; and which, if successful, should open up a field for demonstration of unlimited value to water users in the South-West where flood water users in the South-West where flood water must be depended on for any material expansion of the present irrigation supply. Reservoir sites are scarce and of questionable economic value. Streams are subject to sudden and unexpected flood. Foundations for a more permanent type of construction are out of the question in many instances. If, then, this structure is successful, it will mean much by way of changing the possibilities for irrigation development because of the economic features in connection with it. The structure illustrated herewith was built entirely by the water users, without the aid of any skilled labor whatever. There was not outlay of expense for detailed plans and specifications. A pencil sketch was prepared covering the major features of the work. This was followed in general but not in detail, since it was necessary to fit the plans to the material as it was brought in. In fact, there was no precedent to go by and therefore it was necessary to work out the plan as construction proceeded. The structure now in place is built entirely of cedar posts. Approximately fifteen hundred were used. These range in length between 7 and 2 feet and in size of butts between 6 and 16 inches. A puddle clay dam extends across the entire canyon to a depth of twenty feet below stream bed. Spillway is seventy-five feet long. Wing walls are sight feet high. Upper face of embankment is heavily rip-rapped.
(19) ENTERPRISE DIVERISON DAM AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
8A. Shows the foundation of the cedar post over-pour dam. The South wing has been raised to a height of three posts while the foundation of the North wing has just been laid. The first layer of the apron rests on stringers of long posts extending full length of the spill-way. The second layer of posts merely fills between the tops of the first layer. The butts of the third layer rests on a second stringer which is wired fast to the middle of the second layer and to the tops of the first layer of posts. A third stringer has been started across the middle of the third layer of posts. This stringer forms the foundation of the crest. From this, each succeeding layer of posts is placed one on top of another with a general batter of about 30 degrees. (See following picture).
(20) ENTERPRISE DIVERISON DAM AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
8B. Shows structure completed to within one layer of the crest. Note that top layer now in place is spaced about four feet apart. This layer was put in position merely to gain elevation. In other words, every other layer in building the crest was made solid.
8C. Shows the structure at the same height as 8A. The post being placed by the three men is the type used for stringers, and was bound across the middle of the third layer and formed the foundation for the main part of the dam.
(21) ENTERPRISE DIVERISON DAM & FLOOD CONTROL WORKS (CONT’D)
8D. Shows the manner in which clay was washed into place among the rocks and gravle which were used as filler between the succeeding layers of posts. The structure is at practically the same height as is shown under 8A and 8C.
8E. Shows the clay puddle core dam being rebuilt across the section which was washed out. After the post structure was in place the space between the post dam and the clay dam was filled with a mortar of clay and sand washed in between the rocks with which the dam was weighted down.
(22) ENTERPRISE DIVERISON DAM & FLOOD CONTROL WORKS (con’t)
8F. Shows the excavation for the cedar post spillway just before beginning the construction.
8G. Shows the same site just before excavation began. This also shows the intake to the South branch of the Canal system
(23) ENTERPRISE DIVERSION DAM AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS (cont)
8H. Shows the South intake to the canal system, and the temporary dam built after the high water season of 1923. Note the amount of seepage through this dam. The loss through this temporary dam varies between 15% and 25% of the total flow.
8I. Shows same looking down stream.
(24) ENTERPRISE DIVERSION DAM & FLOOD CONTROL WORKS (cont)
8J. (A$3.00 Brownie was the only Camera available when the structure was inspected just previous to completion. The regular Kodak used for this work was in for repairs. This print shows the top layer of posts all in place except a half dozen where the man stands. Note the slope of this layer. The space between the crest and the clay cut-off dam above was filled with large rock, then puddled with sand and clay mixture washed in place. Note the height of wings. These were filled with rock, sand, and clay puddle, the same washed in place with water from a three inch curtifugal pump through a fire hose an nozzle.
(25) SPRING CITY FLOOD CONTROL AND DIVERISON WORKS.
9A. Shows the Spring City diversion and control works looking up stream soon after the July flood, 1922. This flood filled the canyon two feet above the eight foot wing walls. The derrick is resting on the North wall. The arm is of sufficient length to reach more than half way across the opeining, and will handle loads for the entire width of the open channel. This has been found extremely useful in clearing an opening leading into the diversion gate after the flood has subsided. (See also 9B.).
(26) SPRING CITY FLOOD. CONTROL AND DIVERSION WORKS. (continued).
9B. Note position of derrick with reference to canal intake. This derrick is operated by a team of horses which is more rapid than a hand winch.
(27) MT. PLEASANT PROPOSED FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
9C. Showing a section near the mouth of Mt. Pleasant Canyon where a 160 acre farm was left desolate as a result of the 1918 flood. This picture was taken in November 1923.
9D. The same. Committee of Citizens and Irrigation officials looking for a slite to install a timber overpour dam and flood control works. This is the site where a detailed estimate placed the cost of construction at $43,000.00. The structure now contemplated will probably cost about $4000.00 in labor.
(27A) HEIGHTS CREEK DIVERSION & FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
9E. Mouth Heights Creek looking down upon the new headworks being installed.
9E. Same looking diagonally across the new headworks. The bank on right partly covered in snow is a concrete cut-off wall with soil on surface to prevent freezing. Masonry diversion works will be constructed on inside of dry wall shown. Timbers used in constructing over-pour dam are cedar telephone poles.
(28) APPLICATION OF TIMBER OVER-POUR DAMS TO ROAD WORK.
10A. Shows a dry wash crossing a section of the State Highway midway between Milford and Garrison. In place of a bridge or culvert, an over-shot crossing is used to take care of summer floods and Spring run-off. To prevent erosion a concrete cut-off wall has been placed below and on a level with the surface of the road. The cement for this wall was freighted three hundred miles by rail, and forty miles by truck. A cedar post over-pour dam might have been used here with much less expense and it would have been more permanent for the reason that the concrete is placed on a gravel foundation and is undermined at the end of the first season of operation. (See next picture.)
(29) APPLICATION OF TIMBER OVER-POUR DAMS TO ROAD WORK. (cont).
10B. Shows the down stream toe of the concrete over-pout shown in 10A. This type of structure is much more suited to the work required of it than a bridge or culvert would be. However, an over-pour structure constructed from materials at hand would have been much more economical, and in this case more permanent. Note the cedar trees in the immediate vicinity. From these the best of timber for this type of structure may be obtained. To prevent the destruction of this concrete structure, a cedar post timber-over-pour dam may be placed immediately below the above structure.
(30) FLOOD OF AUGUST 13, 1923.
On August 13, a terrific storm gathered near Mount Nebo in Juab County and extended northward along the Wasatch Range, breaking at intervals with such fury as to cause the highest series of floods which have visited the district so generally since the state was settled. The first of these flood reached Perry, North of Willard at 8 P.M. The photographs shown herewith give a fairly good idea of the seriousness of the problem involved in the attempting to construct control works to handle such floods, and prevent further damage from a re-occurrence in the same place, or in similar localities which escaped on August 13. One of the chief difficulties in building works for control is the fact that improved orchard lands and even towns are located up to the mouth of the canyons, where the stream bursts forth in all its fury. It is easily handled after it has had room to spread. The floods in the North came too late in the day to permit of photographing. At Nephi, However, a camera was secured in time to catch the main flood as it struck a section of the canal head works above the town.
(31) FLOOD SCENES AT NEPHI, AUGUST 13.
11a. Looking down stream at intake of Nephi canal headworks as the flood struck it. Note how the stream is already out of bounds.
11B. The same looking up-stream immediately after 11A. was taken.
(32) DAVIS COUNTY SCENES, AFTER THE FLOOD.
12A. Looking down from mouth of Davis Creek canyon. Path of the flood may be traced far out across the valley toward Great Salt Lake which is seen dimly in the far distance.
12B. The same from a point near the State Highway. Note how the flood spread and divided in its downward path along the very crest of the ridge or cone.
(33) DAVIS COUNTY SCENES, AFTER THE FLOOD. (cont).
12C. Shows the margin of the Ford Creek flooded area. Here the flood reached the consistency of thick mortar and ran down the highest part of the fan or cone built by Ford Creek. On the crest of the ridge about 1200 feet below the mouth of the canyon, the deposit was six feet thick. This picture shows the edge of the flow about 1500 feet below as it covered the pasture lands.
12D. The [Ford] residence as it looked ten days after the flood. The light struck area is not a fire.
(34) DAVIS COUNTY SCENES, AFTER THE FLOOD (cont)
12E. Above the mouth of Farmington Canyon about one thousand feet looking up stream. This is the type of material carried by many Utah streams at Summer flood time. This is the site of a diversion dam which must be constructed before the next irrigation season to replace the concrete structure washed out.
12F. Where one wing of the Farmington Creek flood cut through an orchard near the mouth of the canyon and left half a house in its path. A high wind soon removed the roof a few days later.
(35) DAVIS COUNTY FLOOD SCENES (cont)
12G. Looking across the concrete highway near the Lagoon viaduct. The wagon on the left and the Dodge truck on extreme rightr are on the road which has been opened thru. One rail of the concrete bridge is just visible between the camera and the telephone pole, in the middle of the picture. The highway served as a debris barrier and checked much of the large rock and debris. Lagoon is seen in the distance.
(36) DAVIS COUNTY FLOOD SCENES (cont).
12H. Looking across the County Highway leading from Farmington to Lagoon, after road had been opened. Lagoon is in the distance.
12I. The same from a position down stream. All course material had been dropped above the bridge except pea gravel, sand, and mud, which filled the creek bed and spread over the adjacent.
(37) WILLARD AND PERRY FLOOD SCENES.
13A. Willard canyon from which the largest flood issued, looking across main street from a point near the extreme left hand margin of 13C. This shows the extreme South wing of the flood course.
13B. Perry canyon from the middle of a former peach orchard.
(38) WILLARD AND PERRY FLOOD SCENES (continued)
13C. South Main Street, Willard, ten days after the flood; looking North. Steam shovel working in the distance.
13D. Four block further North. Looking North across what was the main channel. Bridge is entirely buried.
(39) WILLARD AND PERRY FLOOD SCENES (continued)
13E and 13 F. Two Willard homes ten days after the flood.
(40) WILLARD AND PERRY FLOOD SCENES (continued).
13G. A small canyon just North of Willard carried a stream of mortar out of the mountains and deposited it in a heavy layer, one to six feet thick, over the farming land and orchards. This shows the outer edge of the mortar flow where it has buried the larger part of a tomato field. The slope indicated by the picture is about right. The actual slope of the gravel cone which now remains is about 5%.
(41) SMALL RESERVOIR SURVEYS.
14a. Reconnaissance party looking for reservoir sites above Wallsburg in Wasatch County. The picture is taken in the bottom of a small basin which may easily be converted into a storage reservoir with a capacity of fifty to one-hundred acre feet, at a probable cost of two to three hundred dollars. There are many such sites in these mountains. When combined, the available capacity amounts to considerable and may be made available to water users at a fraction of the expense of storing in the larger proposed reservoirs now under examination by the Utah Water Storage Commission.
(42) Miscellaneous Problems in Irrigation & Drainage.
15a. The improvement of pasture lands by the process of digging surface ditches to a depth sufficient to control the ground water table has become an important problem in connection with the general agricultural improvement program. The picture shows a trench dug through meadow land so wet as to make pasturing very difficult. This was a dug with a shovel, shallow at first, then deepened and widened with a scraper, with the result that in two seasons the pasture has been improved materially. The policy in this connection is to run an open drain through the middle of a small pasture-ten to twelve acres-and fence each side to prevent animals from getting into the trench. Also to divide the pasture for rotation purposes.
(43) MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS IN IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE. SURFACE WATER CONTROL.
Sanpete County has an area of bottom lands amounting to approximately 20,000 acres over which water floods and stands until late Spring or early summer. The water then disappears and the soil dries out. The soil is a rich peat, 6 to 15 feet deep, which when dry blows like chaff. It is very productive when kept uniformly moist. Plans are well under way for organizing a “Water Control” district cover the lower half of the area. This will provide a means of removing surplus water and at the same time make it possible to sub-irrigate the tract when needed. In consideration of this problem, a similar area in California was given careful study as to methods of reclamation and results of cultivation. The Island District near Stockton which was formerly covered by the Sacramento River at high tide is very similar in every way-except in regards to tide action on the river-to the Sanpete area. The two photographs herewith illustrate the situation.
(44) SURFACE WATER CONTROL (CONTINUED).
15B. Reclaimed area in Island District near Stockton California. The roadway is built on a dyke made by dredging out a channel between islands. Note road bridge in distance where highway crosses on the large channel.
15c. A dredge a work cleaning out one of the channels between Islands in the same District. The clam shell bucket handles soft mucky material 1 cubic yard per load. The water in the channel is higher than the level of the reclaimed land.
(45) MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS IN IRRIGAITON AND DRAINAGE. (cont).
15D. This picture shows the type of Wiir [sic] used for temporary measurements and for sem-permanent installations; also the method of installation. For a temporary use a canvas is tacked on the lower edge to help shut off the underflow. On this, mucky sods are placed and tramped down to close all leaks. Where the ditch bottom erodes easily, a canvas is also tacked beneath the crest on the lower side to prevent undermining. For temporary use the weirs are built of flooring lumber nailed on 2” x 4” studding. For semi-permanent installations tongue-and-grooved plank are used in place of flooring.
(46) MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS IN IRRIGAITON & DRANAGE (CONT).
16E. A MOVABLE WEIR INSTALLED IN A Chalk Creek Canal in June 1920 and photographed in July 1923. It is still in excellent condition.
16E. Weir and stage register placed in Silver Creek near the entrance to Wales reservoir. On the measurements recorded depend the adjustment of the water rights in the new consolidated company just organized.

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PHOTOGRAPHIC SUMMARY TO ACCOMPANY ANNUAL REPORT OF CO-OPERATIVE IRRIGATION ACTIVITIES IN THE STATE OF UTAH DURING THE YEAR 1923. By L.M. WINSOR, Irrigation Engineer.
This summary is intended as an aid in reading the above report, since a photographic record is much more readily understood than a word picture. The photographs follow in order the topics discussed in the report.
CONSOLIDATION OF INDEPENDENT IRRIGATION ENTERPRISES INTO MUTUAL ORGANIZATIONS. Several attempts have been made to secure photographs showing the typical Utah communities, but up to the present time none which are satisfactory have been obtained. Several maps have been made, however, which illustrate the close relations hip of the various independent irrigation units as they have been developed. Typical of these is the map covering the Ashley Valley, which is included herewith.
(3) DANIELS RESERVOIR AT HEAD WATERS OF STRAWBERRY RIVER
1A. Shows reservoir as it appeared in Spring of 1922.
1B. Shows same in process of reconstruction, Sept. 1923.
(4) DANIELS RESERVOIR AT HEAD WATERS OF STRAWBERRY RIVER. (continued)
1C. Shows leak and condition of dam in June 1922.
1D. Shows upper face of dam in process of reconstruction in September 1923. Note removal of timbers and widening of upper [?]. Space between was filled with clay and sand puddled in place.
(5) CONTROL OF DRIFTING GRAVEL IN SWOLLEN STREAMS AND CONSTRUCTION OF DIVERISON WORKS. This project has developed into one of the most important lines of work in Utah, in connection with improved irrigation practice. The photographs included herewith give an idea of the type of work undertaken, but do not include the entire scope of the field. For example, the application of timber dams to road construction, is not here illustrated except to show one place where this type of structure may have been used in place of concrete cut-off wall which probably will be undermined and washed out in the course of one or two years. The photographs show but poorly the manner in which gravel is stored above the line of still water during flood period. For example, the slope which the gravel bed takes where it is allowed to spread is not shown. The typical plans included in this structure are original. However the principle is the same as was found in practice at Manti where floods were a source of immense damage to both the town and the farms before the water users installed a low diversion dam at the mouth of the canyon. This dam happened to be just what was needed in checking the flow of drifting gravel and boulders. Therefore as it filled above, it has been raised at the intervals of three to five years until now this dam has reached a height of thirty feet. Details of construction are shown in photographs 2A and 2B. Since this structure was raised a little at a time as it filled, a pond of water has never been maintained on the upper side. This is the one vital (6) principal on which the present structures here illustrated have been built. It has been the aim to maintain a body of still water above each overflow dam in order that all drifting course material might be dropped above the dam. The Manti structure has served to check the drift of boulders and course gravel but much of the fine gravel and practically all of the sand has drifted over the spill-way and has been carried into the canals below. Another feature of this new type of timber overflow dam is its applicability to use, in constructing diversion works where the stream is subject to summer floods which carry large volumes of rocks, boulders and gravel. Concrete is a poor material for such conditions, especially where the structure must be placed on a loose foundation, which may be subjected to heavy erosion. In addition the wearing effect of the drifting heavy material is much more severe on concrete than on timber.
(7) MANTI FLOOD CONTROL WORKS AND DIVERISON DAM.
2A. Shows downstream face of dam and spill-way. This dam is built of timber and cobble rock. The spillway has a face of boulders grouted together with cement mortar.
2B. Shows same looking from North to South along top of dam. Note the absence of any puddling [sic].
(8) 3A. NEPHI GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS
3A AND 3B show the spill-way and dam of the upper debris barrier in Salt Creek. Note the detail of construction in 3A. And how the spill-way sits with reference to the bank in 3B. Also note the method of protection on the upper face of earth embankment. This is simply a net wire fence backed up by cedar boughs which are weighted down with boulders.
(9) NEPHI GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS. (CONTINUED)
3C. Shows the lower dam and spill-way of the Salt Creek gravel control works at high water time.
3D. Same after high water was over. Note the height above the water level to which sand bar has formed up-stream.
(10) NEPHI GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS (CONTINUED)
3E. The vertex of the gravel cone about one thousand feet above the upper control works. Note how the stream spreads as soon as released from the narrow channel above.
3F. The same in panorama immediately below 3E. extending to the vicinity of the still water basin.
(11) NEPHI GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS (continued)
3G. Shows the stream bed immediately above the dam site, taken in August before construction began in November 1922.
3.H. The same as 3G. taken at the close of the first six months after the new works had been in operation during one entire high water period. Note the depth of water immediately below the gravel delta at the very edge of the still water pond.
[Image of a map] NEPHI GRAVEL & FLOOD CONTROLBASIN. U.S.DEPT. AGRICULTURE. IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS. GRAVEL RESTRAINT BASIN. JENKINS FLAT ON SALT CREEK. NEPHI UTAH 1922. Survey, Design, Constr. By H.W. Sheley. Direction Prof. L.M. Winsor. Scale 200’=1 inch. Contour Interval=1.
(12) KANOSH GRAVEL AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
4A. Shows the dam and pond forming the debris barrier at Kanoh. Note the spillway about the middle of the dyke. The pond of still water extends up stream about 500 feet. The tree on right is a cedar or juniper. The cedar posts used are of this variety of tree.
(13) KANOSH GRAVEL AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
4B. Shows detail of spillway. Wing walls are made of cotton, wood, and cedar posts. Overpour [sic] is made of balsam logs covered with cedar posts and filled in with creek bottom boulders. Space between boulders are puddled with sand, silt and clay. An objection to this particular design is in the fact this orib [sic] is made independent of the earth fill.
(14) FILLMORE GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS.
5A. Shows Chalk Creek at the latter part of the high water season of 1923. During periods of summer flood this stream has five or ten times the volume carried at ordinary water time.
5B. Shows height to which creek bed and banks have been built above adjacent property.
(15) FILMORE GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS (CONTINUED)
5C. Shows the new timber spillway in the earth dam which was just completed the day before snow fell. The view is diagonal across the channel in a downstream direction.
5D. Same looking up-stream.
(16) BEAVER FLOOD CONTROL DIVERSION AND MEASURING WORKS.
6A. Shows the south wing of the doublt [sic] control works at the forks of North Creek. This structure has been rebuilt in part since the photograph was taken. Up to the stage shown the water users constructed the works without engineering help, using their own initiative in attempting to follow a very crude model built in miniature to show them how such a structure might be built. It was planned to give this community assistance on the ground, but a combination of circumstances prevented this when they were ready to start work, therefore they proceeded with the work expecting to receive the promised assistance before they had gone very far. Cold weather stopped the work where it stood at the time this photograph was taken.
(17) KANARRA PSOPOSED EQUALIZING RESERVOIR AND GRAVEL CONTROL WORKS.
7A. Shows site of the proposed equalizing reservoir and g ravel control over-pour dam, construction on which has not yet begun. The dam is to be built of cedar posts and rock with no attempt at making it completely water tight. The site of this dam is suitable for concrete arch since bed rock is available within a distance of twenty-five feet. However, the size of the basin above and the amount of debris carried in summer floods make such a structure of questionable economy. The timber over-pour dam can be built at a fraction of the cost of concrete. The site is ideal for such a structure, therefore it has been recommended and has been adopted by the water users. Timber is now being gathered for constructing the first ten feet. The reservoir thus formed will serve as a check for the immense quantity of drifting gravel and boulders which this stream carries, and will at the same time provide an equalizing basin for distributing the fluctuation stream of Spring high water, which if used, will double the productive capacity of Kanarra Creek. This reservoir will also provide a means for storing the low water supply at night so as to eliminate the necessity of night irrigation.
(18) ENTERPRISE DIVERSION DAM AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
Here has been undertaken a type of construction work which is out of the ordinary; and which, if successful, should open up a field for demonstration of unlimited value to water users in the South-West where flood water users in the South-West where flood water must be depended on for any material expansion of the present irrigation supply. Reservoir sites are scarce and of questionable economic value. Streams are subject to sudden and unexpected flood. Foundations for a more permanent type of construction are out of the question in many instances. If, then, this structure is successful, it will mean much by way of changing the possibilities for irrigation development because of the economic features in connection with it. The structure illustrated herewith was built entirely by the water users, without the aid of any skilled labor whatever. There was not outlay of expense for detailed plans and specifications. A pencil sketch was prepared covering the major features of the work. This was followed in general but not in detail, since it was necessary to fit the plans to the material as it was brought in. In fact, there was no precedent to go by and therefore it was necessary to work out the plan as construction proceeded. The structure now in place is built entirely of cedar posts. Approximately fifteen hundred were used. These range in length between 7 and 2 feet and in size of butts between 6 and 16 inches. A puddle clay dam extends across the entire canyon to a depth of twenty feet below stream bed. Spillway is seventy-five feet long. Wing walls are sight feet high. Upper face of embankment is heavily rip-rapped.
(19) ENTERPRISE DIVERISON DAM AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
8A. Shows the foundation of the cedar post over-pour dam. The South wing has been raised to a height of three posts while the foundation of the North wing has just been laid. The first layer of the apron rests on stringers of long posts extending full length of the spill-way. The second layer of posts merely fills between the tops of the first layer. The butts of the third layer rests on a second stringer which is wired fast to the middle of the second layer and to the tops of the first layer of posts. A third stringer has been started across the middle of the third layer of posts. This stringer forms the foundation of the crest. From this, each succeeding layer of posts is placed one on top of another with a general batter of about 30 degrees. (See following picture).
(20) ENTERPRISE DIVERISON DAM AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
8B. Shows structure completed to within one layer of the crest. Note that top layer now in place is spaced about four feet apart. This layer was put in position merely to gain elevation. In other words, every other layer in building the crest was made solid.
8C. Shows the structure at the same height as 8A. The post being placed by the three men is the type used for stringers, and was bound across the middle of the third layer and formed the foundation for the main part of the dam.
(21) ENTERPRISE DIVERISON DAM & FLOOD CONTROL WORKS (CONT’D)
8D. Shows the manner in which clay was washed into place among the rocks and gravle which were used as filler between the succeeding layers of posts. The structure is at practically the same height as is shown under 8A and 8C.
8E. Shows the clay puddle core dam being rebuilt across the section which was washed out. After the post structure was in place the space between the post dam and the clay dam was filled with a mortar of clay and sand washed in between the rocks with which the dam was weighted down.
(22) ENTERPRISE DIVERISON DAM & FLOOD CONTROL WORKS (con’t)
8F. Shows the excavation for the cedar post spillway just before beginning the construction.
8G. Shows the same site just before excavation began. This also shows the intake to the South branch of the Canal system
(23) ENTERPRISE DIVERSION DAM AND FLOOD CONTROL WORKS (cont)
8H. Shows the South intake to the canal system, and the temporary dam built after the high water season of 1923. Note the amount of seepage through this dam. The loss through this temporary dam varies between 15% and 25% of the total flow.
8I. Shows same looking down stream.
(24) ENTERPRISE DIVERSION DAM & FLOOD CONTROL WORKS (cont)
8J. (A$3.00 Brownie was the only Camera available when the structure was inspected just previous to completion. The regular Kodak used for this work was in for repairs. This print shows the top layer of posts all in place except a half dozen where the man stands. Note the slope of this layer. The space between the crest and the clay cut-off dam above was filled with large rock, then puddled with sand and clay mixture washed in place. Note the height of wings. These were filled with rock, sand, and clay puddle, the same washed in place with water from a three inch curtifugal pump through a fire hose an nozzle.
(25) SPRING CITY FLOOD CONTROL AND DIVERISON WORKS.
9A. Shows the Spring City diversion and control works looking up stream soon after the July flood, 1922. This flood filled the canyon two feet above the eight foot wing walls. The derrick is resting on the North wall. The arm is of sufficient length to reach more than half way across the opeining, and will handle loads for the entire width of the open channel. This has been found extremely useful in clearing an opening leading into the diversion gate after the flood has subsided. (See also 9B.).
(26) SPRING CITY FLOOD. CONTROL AND DIVERSION WORKS. (continued).
9B. Note position of derrick with reference to canal intake. This derrick is operated by a team of horses which is more rapid than a hand winch.
(27) MT. PLEASANT PROPOSED FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
9C. Showing a section near the mouth of Mt. Pleasant Canyon where a 160 acre farm was left desolate as a result of the 1918 flood. This picture was taken in November 1923.
9D. The same. Committee of Citizens and Irrigation officials looking for a slite to install a timber overpour dam and flood control works. This is the site where a detailed estimate placed the cost of construction at $43,000.00. The structure now contemplated will probably cost about $4000.00 in labor.
(27A) HEIGHTS CREEK DIVERSION & FLOOD CONTROL WORKS.
9E. Mouth Heights Creek looking down upon the new headworks being installed.
9E. Same looking diagonally across the new headworks. The bank on right partly covered in snow is a concrete cut-off wall with soil on surface to prevent freezing. Masonry diversion works will be constructed on inside of dry wall shown. Timbers used in constructing over-pour dam are cedar telephone poles.
(28) APPLICATION OF TIMBER OVER-POUR DAMS TO ROAD WORK.
10A. Shows a dry wash crossing a section of the State Highway midway between Milford and Garrison. In place of a bridge or culvert, an over-shot crossing is used to take care of summer floods and Spring run-off. To prevent erosion a concrete cut-off wall has been placed below and on a level with the surface of the road. The cement for this wall was freighted three hundred miles by rail, and forty miles by truck. A cedar post over-pour dam might have been used here with much less expense and it would have been more permanent for the reason that the concrete is placed on a gravel foundation and is undermined at the end of the first season of operation. (See next picture.)
(29) APPLICATION OF TIMBER OVER-POUR DAMS TO ROAD WORK. (cont).
10B. Shows the down stream toe of the concrete over-pout shown in 10A. This type of structure is much more suited to the work required of it than a bridge or culvert would be. However, an over-pour structure constructed from materials at hand would have been much more economical, and in this case more permanent. Note the cedar trees in the immediate vicinity. From these the best of timber for this type of structure may be obtained. To prevent the destruction of this concrete structure, a cedar post timber-over-pour dam may be placed immediately below the above structure.
(30) FLOOD OF AUGUST 13, 1923.
On August 13, a terrific storm gathered near Mount Nebo in Juab County and extended northward along the Wasatch Range, breaking at intervals with such fury as to cause the highest series of floods which have visited the district so generally since the state was settled. The first of these flood reached Perry, North of Willard at 8 P.M. The photographs shown herewith give a fairly good idea of the seriousness of the problem involved in the attempting to construct control works to handle such floods, and prevent further damage from a re-occurrence in the same place, or in similar localities which escaped on August 13. One of the chief difficulties in building works for control is the fact that improved orchard lands and even towns are located up to the mouth of the canyons, where the stream bursts forth in all its fury. It is easily handled after it has had room to spread. The floods in the North came too late in the day to permit of photographing. At Nephi, However, a camera was secured in time to catch the main flood as it struck a section of the canal head works above the town.
(31) FLOOD SCENES AT NEPHI, AUGUST 13.
11a. Looking down stream at intake of Nephi canal headworks as the flood struck it. Note how the stream is already out of bounds.
11B. The same looking up-stream immediately after 11A. was taken.
(32) DAVIS COUNTY SCENES, AFTER THE FLOOD.
12A. Looking down from mouth of Davis Creek canyon. Path of the flood may be traced far out across the valley toward Great Salt Lake which is seen dimly in the far distance.
12B. The same from a point near the State Highway. Note how the flood spread and divided in its downward path along the very crest of the ridge or cone.
(33) DAVIS COUNTY SCENES, AFTER THE FLOOD. (cont).
12C. Shows the margin of the Ford Creek flooded area. Here the flood reached the consistency of thick mortar and ran down the highest part of the fan or cone built by Ford Creek. On the crest of the ridge about 1200 feet below the mouth of the canyon, the deposit was six feet thick. This picture shows the edge of the flow about 1500 feet below as it covered the pasture lands.
12D. The [Ford] residence as it looked ten days after the flood. The light struck area is not a fire.
(34) DAVIS COUNTY SCENES, AFTER THE FLOOD (cont)
12E. Above the mouth of Farmington Canyon about one thousand feet looking up stream. This is the type of material carried by many Utah streams at Summer flood time. This is the site of a diversion dam which must be constructed before the next irrigation season to replace the concrete structure washed out.
12F. Where one wing of the Farmington Creek flood cut through an orchard near the mouth of the canyon and left half a house in its path. A high wind soon removed the roof a few days later.
(35) DAVIS COUNTY FLOOD SCENES (cont)
12G. Looking across the concrete highway near the Lagoon viaduct. The wagon on the left and the Dodge truck on extreme rightr are on the road which has been opened thru. One rail of the concrete bridge is just visible between the camera and the telephone pole, in the middle of the picture. The highway served as a debris barrier and checked much of the large rock and debris. Lagoon is seen in the distance.
(36) DAVIS COUNTY FLOOD SCENES (cont).
12H. Looking across the County Highway leading from Farmington to Lagoon, after road had been opened. Lagoon is in the distance.
12I. The same from a position down stream. All course material had been dropped above the bridge except pea gravel, sand, and mud, which filled the creek bed and spread over the adjacent.
(37) WILLARD AND PERRY FLOOD SCENES.
13A. Willard canyon from which the largest flood issued, looking across main street from a point near the extreme left hand margin of 13C. This shows the extreme South wing of the flood course.
13B. Perry canyon from the middle of a former peach orchard.
(38) WILLARD AND PERRY FLOOD SCENES (continued)
13C. South Main Street, Willard, ten days after the flood; looking North. Steam shovel working in the distance.
13D. Four block further North. Looking North across what was the main channel. Bridge is entirely buried.
(39) WILLARD AND PERRY FLOOD SCENES (continued)
13E and 13 F. Two Willard homes ten days after the flood.
(40) WILLARD AND PERRY FLOOD SCENES (continued).
13G. A small canyon just North of Willard carried a stream of mortar out of the mountains and deposited it in a heavy layer, one to six feet thick, over the farming land and orchards. This shows the outer edge of the mortar flow where it has buried the larger part of a tomato field. The slope indicated by the picture is about right. The actual slope of the gravel cone which now remains is about 5%.
(41) SMALL RESERVOIR SURVEYS.
14a. Reconnaissance party looking for reservoir sites above Wallsburg in Wasatch County. The picture is taken in the bottom of a small basin which may easily be converted into a storage reservoir with a capacity of fifty to one-hundred acre feet, at a probable cost of two to three hundred dollars. There are many such sites in these mountains. When combined, the available capacity amounts to considerable and may be made available to water users at a fraction of the expense of storing in the larger proposed reservoirs now under examination by the Utah Water Storage Commission.
(42) Miscellaneous Problems in Irrigation & Drainage.
15a. The improvement of pasture lands by the process of digging surface ditches to a depth sufficient to control the ground water table has become an important problem in connection with the general agricultural improvement program. The picture shows a trench dug through meadow land so wet as to make pasturing very difficult. This was a dug with a shovel, shallow at first, then deepened and widened with a scraper, with the result that in two seasons the pasture has been improved materially. The policy in this connection is to run an open drain through the middle of a small pasture-ten to twelve acres-and fence each side to prevent animals from getting into the trench. Also to divide the pasture for rotation purposes.
(43) MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS IN IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE. SURFACE WATER CONTROL.
Sanpete County has an area of bottom lands amounting to approximately 20,000 acres over which water floods and stands until late Spring or early summer. The water then disappears and the soil dries out. The soil is a rich peat, 6 to 15 feet deep, which when dry blows like chaff. It is very productive when kept uniformly moist. Plans are well under way for organizing a “Water Control” district cover the lower half of the area. This will provide a means of removing surplus water and at the same time make it possible to sub-irrigate the tract when needed. In consideration of this problem, a similar area in California was given careful study as to methods of reclamation and results of cultivation. The Island District near Stockton which was formerly covered by the Sacramento River at high tide is very similar in every way-except in regards to tide action on the river-to the Sanpete area. The two photographs herewith illustrate the situation.
(44) SURFACE WATER CONTROL (CONTINUED).
15B. Reclaimed area in Island District near Stockton California. The roadway is built on a dyke made by dredging out a channel between islands. Note road bridge in distance where highway crosses on the large channel.
15c. A dredge a work cleaning out one of the channels between Islands in the same District. The clam shell bucket handles soft mucky material 1 cubic yard per load. The water in the channel is higher than the level of the reclaimed land.
(45) MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS IN IRRIGAITON AND DRAINAGE. (cont).
15D. This picture shows the type of Wiir [sic] used for temporary measurements and for sem-permanent installations; also the method of installation. For a temporary use a canvas is tacked on the lower edge to help shut off the underflow. On this, mucky sods are placed and tramped down to close all leaks. Where the ditch bottom erodes easily, a canvas is also tacked beneath the crest on the lower side to prevent undermining. For temporary use the weirs are built of flooring lumber nailed on 2” x 4” studding. For semi-permanent installations tongue-and-grooved plank are used in place of flooring.
(46) MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS IN IRRIGAITON & DRANAGE (CONT).
16E. A MOVABLE WEIR INSTALLED IN A Chalk Creek Canal in June 1920 and photographed in July 1923. It is still in excellent condition.
16E. Weir and stage register placed in Silver Creek near the entrance to Wales reservoir. On the measurements recorded depend the adjustment of the water rights in the new consolidated company just organized.